


Jayne and the Dragon

by enemyfrigate



Category: Firefly
Genre: Dragons, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-28
Updated: 2012-12-28
Packaged: 2017-11-22 17:45:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/612510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enemyfrigate/pseuds/enemyfrigate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jayne hadn’t signed on to fight no dragon, but here he was, same as usual, cleaning up the shit after Mal pissed off the ‘verse’s plumber.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jayne and the Dragon

Jayne hadn’t signed on to fight no dragon, but here he was, same as usual, cleaning up the shit after Mal pissed off the ‘verse’s plumber.

Couldn’t quite see Mal facing down a dragon, one man and one beast, though; man thought he was too clever for that. Zoe, now, he could see that just fine, like one of them hero-women out of a picture book, with the sword in one hand and a pulse rifle in the other, facing off with a beast bigger than Serenity.

Him? Well, he was too dumb and too stubborn not to. ‘Specially when his captain told him to take rear guard. In Jayne’s experience, that meant go last and get shot at most. Not that he minded, ‘cause it were easier to shoot back when there was no civilians or hero types to get in the way.

This kind of rear guard didn’t have no advantages to it that he could see, though. Big damn dragon almost had him by the coat - didn’t seem fair that here he was, scrambling up a rock face with just Vera slung over his back and no grenades to speak of - and the thing just raised its gorram head and leaned over and nipped at him, like a goat creeping its head through the fence to eat hi Mama’s straggly flowers.

Least the dragon seemed to be lacking the upgrades of some models he heard tell of. No flame yet, leastways that he could see.

Day coming up on a day and a half of chasing and he’d shot up one wing good, so it couldn’t fly. Turns out dragons can run and sniff real good, though. Been so long he’s thinking of giving it a name. Hell, it’s done less real damage to his person and his goods than one of Mal’s U-Day brawls.

Maybe he should stop and him and the dragon could become pals. Hell, he should lead it back to the boat. Kaylee would likely pet it on the nose and it would go all doe-y eyed and purr.

Jayne hiked himself over the edge of the rock face and flung himself under an overhang. Too high for the dragon, looked like, so Jayne ran a weapons check. Vera never minded no dust or sand, and he gave her a quick pet, just for being his girl, and the hunting knife shone bright as rain. Then he made sure there wasn’t no snakes in his hidey-hole with him, poking the knife into the crannies and cracks. Nope, looked like he was all by his lonesome.

Jayne kept his eyes on the cliff edge he’d just come over and hooked the mostly empty canteen off his belt. The last swallow of tinny recycled water went down real fine, though, like a creek-cold White Fall ale.

The dragon’s snout poked up over the edge of the rock face, and he swore in the kind of Chinee even Zoe didn’t know and cat-crawled back, Vera out in front of him in one hand. That wasn't no way to make any time, and it wasn't no way to handle a powerful weapon like Vera because even he couldn't handle her right with one set of fingers, but he reckoned he couldn't make much time back her no how, as narrow as it was getting.

Somehow his mind had thought to name the dragon Arabella whilst he was doing weapons check.

One blue dragonish eye peered at him, and he heard Arabella dig gigantic claws into the dirt and heave her sinuous, not at all nightmarish or unattractive body over the cliff lip, and Jayne let Vera roar right into her face. Then he rose from his crouch back where the overhang petered out and pelted toward high ground.

Maybe Serenity would see him before he got eaten.

Cobbs don’t much like getting eaten anymore than the normal run of people, so Jayne figured he and Vera and - how come he ain’t never named the hunting knife? ran through the part of his head he weren’t using for running away - Alice? Hortense? no, Sadie - would have some account to give of theirself before he made any damn fool lizard with a pretty girl’s name a meal.

Arabella bellowed, and it sounded like some mighty clawin’ was going on on her part, but he kept running. Might take her awhile to sort herself out from getting some Vera to the face - seems like the fancy girls always take the longest - but she had all kinds of reach on him, and he didn’t get up today to die.

He rounded a curved stone slab and stopped.

On t’ other hand, maybe the ‘verse knew something he didn’t.

Box canyon. Sheer walls, left, right, and straight on. Not the kind of climbing you could do quick without some rope and some grav sleds.

Jayne turned to face the predator behind him and held Vera with light hands. If they was gonna die, they was gonna open up and roar first.

Arabella paced up - funny thing, but she didn’t run, she paced, like the roan mare in Big Boy Herndon’s string - and sighted on him.

Not many men could say they’d been made a meal of by a dragon. ‘Specially not a girl dragon with pretty bronzy scales made by a gen-u-wine mad scientist.

“Now don’t do nothing hasty, Arabella,” Jayne said. He thought he might yell it but that wasn’t hardly polite with a lady that had that many pointy things on her person.

If she had flames, Jayne figured now would be the time he’d see it.

Arabella’s mouth gaped open, showing gleaming teeth dripping with saliva. Jayne noticed she was panting a little, like she was a bit out of condition, and there was sticky stuff dripping from her neck.

He edged aside a mite, gauged the height of her belly from the ground. Maybe ifn’ he blinded her with Vera’s biggest blast he could make it. From there he had no inkling of what next, but a body never gets nowhere standing still, specially in a desperate situation like this here.

Jayne dodged to one side, and quick as he could, leaped back the other way, out of the way of Arabella’s snapping teeth, and aimed Vera without thought at the dragon’s blue eye.

Vera roared.

Jayne tripped in a dragon footprint.

Arabella struck again.

At Vera.

Titanium-strong teeth tore Vera from Jayne’s arms. His ankle twisted over, and he fell, but he was up again with Sadie in his hand and the dragon crunching something.

Vera parts tumbled out of Arabella’s mouth, and the dragon shook her head and spat out the barrel. Vera’s stock shone like some weird growth from one fang.

Jayne leaped onto her head, snarling.

Arabella whip-snapped her neck back. A lesser man, a man who spent less than two hours a day at the weight bench, might’ve got flung clean off, but not Jayne Cobb.

Sadie quivered in his hand, and he let her slip the leash, plunged her at those terribly blue eyes. He thrust Sadie to the hilt, and Arabella yowled, and he stabbed again until Sadie’s hilt went in deep and her blade got stuck and the dragon bellowed and folded up under him.

Jayne fell free. He landed on his back not five feet from the great bronze head, and rolled to his knees and hands before he properly got his breath back.

Light barely gleamed in the gunfire-damaged eye facing him.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” said Jayne, “You know how it is.”

He crawled closer, because he’d seen a lot of dying things and there weren’t much she could do to him now.

She snapped at him anyway, when he put his eye-sticky hand on her snout.

With slow care, he staggered to standing and gathered up the parts of Vera that weren't under Arabella. Maybe he could trade for the parts that weren't no good no more and rebuild her. Callahan fullbore autolocks was hard to come by.

Jayne took off his tee shirt, his good yellow one. It was ripped and tore from where Arabella had almost snatched him up yesterday but it would do to hold whatever of Vera he could salvage. Her barrel were all twisted up and bitten on and Jayne ground his teeth together.

Cobbs dont cry, he heard Mama say in his head. With care, he laid the Vera parts on the shirt, scrubbed his eyes with his hand, and with gentle hands tied the cloth into a neat bundle, sniffing and bleary eyed.

Vera was dead and it weren't no use saying she'd been just a weapon. Aint no such thing as 'just a weapon'.

Jayne held the awkward package to his side, the other side from the claw gouges that were had opened up again and were bleeding but good now, and made for the cliff. Best if he got in the open, so Serenity could spot him.

A thought swam up in his starting-to-ache head. Maybe, when he got her rebuilt, he would call his new gun Arry.


End file.
